The exact environmental impact of animal farming is difficult to calculate because of the complexity of the variables involved, but it is no overstatement to say that it is devastating to our planet.
According to Henning Steinfeld, a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization official, “Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems.” In their 2006 report, the FAO calculated our current consumption of meat to be more destructive than the entire transportation sector.
There are many ways in which dependence on animals for food is harmful to our planet. Some ways are sublte and their effect may not be felt for decades.
Some destruction comes in the form of pollution from animal waste, hormones, antibiotics, fertilizers, chemicals, greenhouse gasses, deforestation, overgrazing, land erosion, over fishing, excessive water consumption, and the process of converting plant energy into animal flesh (it takes approximately seven pounds of plant matter and 2400 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat).
Less obvious effects of animal consumption are more difficult to quantify and have the potential of being more devastating. They include genetic mutations, formations of new and more resistant pathogens, biodiversity loss, environmental change, destabilization of land and aquatic ecosystems.